jamesbondfandomcom-20200222-history
Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat)
Irma Bunt is the main henchwoman in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). She is portrayed by German actress Ilse Steppat. The role was Steppat's first English speaking part. It would also prove to be her last. Novel biography The literary version of Irma Bunt appears in two of Ian Fleming's novels: OHMSS and its sequel, You Only Live Twice, wherein she appears to have a relationship with Blofeld, referring to him as mein lieber and adopting the alias of his wife. She also doesn't kill Bond's wife as Blofeld is the one who shoots her. She is killed by Bond in a fight and subsequent explosion. Irma Bunt also appears in Raymond Benson's "Blast From the Past" short story, only published in the January 1997 issue of Playboy. In this sequel to the book You Only Live Twice; after almost being killed by James Bond, she takes revenge upon the secret agent. Film biography Irma Bunt resides at the mountain-top clinic of Piz Gloria with Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Bunt is first introduced at a train station taking Bond up to the clinic by sleigh and helicopter while he is disguised as Sir Hilary Bray. She ostensibly looks after the girls who are suffering allergies – and secretly being brainwashed into 'angels of death' – and has dinner with them and 'Sir Hilary'. A redhaired disciplinarian in the mold of Rosa Klebb, Bunt is determined to keep any fraternizing between 'Sir Hilary' and the girls kept to a minimum. Bond himself subtly insults her by telling her that her name comes from a nautical word for the baggy, swollen part of a sail. When Bond escapes from Piz Gloria after his cover as Sir Hilary Bray was blown, Bunt helps some of the men pursue him in the village at the bottom of the mountain. She fails in this and was seemingly killed when she was caught in an explosion at a stock car rally. She is not seen again until right at the end of the film after 007's wedding (a scene deleted from the film had Bunt trailing Bond and Tracy when they were purchasing a wedding ring from a jewelry store). Bunt showed up, alive and well, in a car driven by Blofeld. As they passed the newlyweded couple, Bunt leaned out of the window and sprayed bullets at Bond with a machine gun. Bond was unharmed, but Tracy was killed. Unusual for a Bond film villain, Bunt escaped punishment and retribution from 007: she did not appear in the following film, Diamonds Are Forever, where Bond avenges Tracy's death by relentlessly tracking down and killing Bolfeld. Other villains, such as Jaws, survive because they switched allegiances, or like Joe Butcher, are really harmless. It had originally been planned to feature Bunt in the following movie, but Ilse Steppat passed away shortly after ''OHMSS''was released. Bunt, Irma Category:On Her Majesty's Secret Service characters Category:James Bond characters Category:SPECTRE Agents Category:James Bond villains